A 2-in-1 post! Algebra and Tomato Results!

Hello! Happy Wednesday and Thursday!

In all the Math and anticipated tomato-results excitement, I forgot to post to our blog yesterday! So, please enjoy this double-feature post. :)

Yesterday in Math, we were happy to welcome back Mrs. Jones! Our goal was to work with with Math mobiles, but with an added twist. We'll call them Mobiles 6.3! (Thanks to Kieron for the suggestion!)

We have worked with mobiles in the past, but our goal today was to consider how we could write an algebraic equation to represent the different parts (arms?) of the mobile. Algebra?! Yikes?!

Although algebra sounds intimidating, it really isn't so bad! Instead of writing a ? or an empty box in place of an unknown value, we can use a variable (a lowercase letter). A variable represents an unknown value in an expression or equation that can be solved when a value (number) can be substituted in.

Ex: 15 + ? = 23

Instead of using ?, we'll use a to represent the unknown value.

So, 15 + ? = 23 can be written 15 + a = 23.

We know that the difference between 15 and 23 (23-15) is 8, so for this equation, a = 8 !

We will continue having fun with algebra over the next couple of days before tackling our last mini-unit of the year. (Hint - it will have us using a cool new Math tool!)

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Now, on to our tomatoes!

Our plants are replanted and our final observations have been submitted to Tomatosphere.

For Group T, we planted 25 seeds and had 17 germinate. In this group, we had one peat pot growing 2 plants (?!) and another sprouting and growing from the bottom of the peat pot!

For Group U, we planted 25 seeds and had 21 germinate. In this group, we had 2 plants grow stems but never lose their 'seed helmet' so we could not consider them germinated.

The national germination % was actually opposite what we observed, which was quite interesting.

After seeing the national results, we voted as a class one last time for which group we thought was the 'space seed' group. 5 students voted that Group T represented the space seeds and 11 voted that Group U contained the seeds that went to space.

Drum roll please....

(If video doesn't load, CLICK HERE.)

Wow! Group U! A 40-day mystery finally revealed!

To learn more about the results, CLICK HERE!

To celebrate the end of our Tomatosphere experiment, we are writing delicious tomato-themed Haiku.

The first crop of poems came in today, with more expected by end of morning tomorrow, so check back then!

Please ask me about tomatoes! Was my hypothesis correct? How is my Haiku coming along? Have I remembered to water my plant(s) since I've brought them home?

Have a lovely afternoon! 🍅

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AGENDA

1. Read read read! It is time to start thinking about your summer reading plan.

When will you spend time reading every day? What books will you read?

What other ways will you build in daily French activities to keep up your language skills?

A podcast? A new French show on Netflix? A French playlist?

Making a plan now will ensure you're ready to go come July 1!

Where will your French summer reading (and listening) take you?